For you shall go out in joy,
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
shall break forth into singing,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
-Isaiah 55:12
Hi. I’m Cari. I have a terrible memory for Scripture, but this verse adopted me long ago, and I’ve spent the better part of my adult life realizing it’s a direct description of my spirituality.
My husband and I live on a small New England farm with our six children and menagerie of animals of varying usefulness. I wrote a book about a million years ago, titled Pope Awesome, and it covers my conversion to Catholicism. I spend my days homeschooling the kids that are still young enough to be schooled, wondering how our house gets so dusty, all the time, and trying to cultivate a deeply sacramental worldview. Also, I crochet.
What Is This Nonsense, Anyway?
I miss blogging. Weird, awkward, unpolished blogging circa 2007. I miss the conversations in the comments, the way “computer friends” became real friends, and how we made a community through the halting, unscripted, genuine sharing of thoughts and daily lives. Influencers were the death of that world, and then when we all drifted over to Instagram, they helped kill the party over there, too.
Then someone suggested this platform, and I missed the experience of daily writing so much that I thought, “oh why not?” and here we are.
Why Should I Subscribe?
Honestly, I don’t really know. The default text for this section assures us “You won’t have to worry about missing anything. Every new edition of the newsletter goes directly to your inbox.” So I guess there’s that. But beyond that, on a more abstract level, you should subscribe because you’re interested in reading my words about:
my faith (practicing Roman Catholic)
my farm (small scale, organic practice in southern New England)
my family (eight of us)
folklore and folk practices, particularly where they intersect liturgical life (do you know Catholics celebrate Lammas? do you know why Catholic countries were quicker than Protestant countries to embrace tomatoes into their cuisine?)
cultivating a sacramental worldview (think: hobbitty papists)
If any of this sounds intriguing, then you should totally subscribe. And if it doesn’t, I’m not sure what glitch in the algorithm led you here, weird.
Servant of God Nicholas Black Elk, Pray for us
This blog is under the patronage of Servant of God Nicholas Black Elk, catechist to the Lakota Sioux and shining example of what it means to be fearless in following God. Heȟáka Sápa, pray for us.
